| 35. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with vayyigop {וַיִּגֹּ֨ף | vayyiggōp̄} ‘and he struck down,’ a vav-consecutive Qal imperfect verb marking the start of divine action. Yahweh {יְהוָ֥ה | Yəhōwāh} functions as the mighty Judge. The term et-binyamin {אֶת־בִּנְיָמִן | ʾet-binyāmīn} introduces Benjamin as the direct object, followed by lifnei Yisrael {לִפְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל | liṕ·nê Yiśrāʾēl}, a prepositional phrase denoting the public setting. The narrative then shifts to human agents with vayyashchitu {וַיַּשְׁחִיתוּ | vayyašḥītu}, a Hiphil imperfect verb indicating causative destruction by bnei Yisrael {בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל | bə-nê Yiśrāʾēl}. The compound numeral phrase esrim vachamishah elef umeyah {עֶשְׂרִים וַחֲמִשָּׁה אֶלֶף וּמֵאָה | ʿeśrîm vaḥămiššāh ʾelep̄ ū-mê-ʾāh} adheres to Hebrew counting convention. Finally, kallel sholef charev {כָּל־אֵלֶּה שֹׁלֵף חָרֶב | kol-ʾêlêh šōlēp̄ ḥā-reḇ} ‘all these drawing sword’ uses a participle to underscore martial readiness. The translation preserves the sequence of divine judgment, human action, temporal framing, and numerical precision while rendering Hebrew morphology idiomatically. |